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Abbott will have time to prove himself - and Labor to reform

Voters have again proved capable of deciding who should represent them. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Australians have delivered an emphatic endorsement of the Coalition under Tony Abbott as part of a shift back to the political middle ground. His victory speech should be reassuring to those who have doubted his credentials and feared a lurch to the right.

The Herald takes him at his word: that the Coalition will govern for all, leave no one behind and that Australia is open for business. The Coalition has inherited a reasonably strong economy and solid budget, given the difficult circumstances. But political instability has eroded confidence and stifled new ideas. The end to the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era will bolster the spirits of many households and businesses.

The Abbott ascendancy will also give Labor - punished as the party of Obeid, Macdonald and the faceless men - time to rebuild as a viable alternative. Labor should not hide behind the surprisingly modest seat gains for the Coalition and pretend all is fine. It is not.

Kevin Rudd, whose concession speech was too much about his legacy and not enough about the verdict of the people on it, might well have saved some of the furniture for his party. But for that Labor can also be thankful for the big spending Clive Palmer.

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Rather than rush from Labor to the Coalition en masse, voters have taken an insurance policy by supporting alternatives such as the Palmer United Party (more than 5.1 per cent of primary votes across both houses). They have backed independents Andrew Wilkie and, in the strongest showing of the election, Nick Xenophon in the Senate. In a welcome signal that authentic politics resonates, Xenophon secured almost 26 per cent of primary votes - just shy of the Liberals and 24,000 votes ahead of Labor's Penny Wong. The systemic problem of Senate voting has elected some untested and potentially dangerous candidates. Electoral reform is needed before the next election. But it is clear voters are willing to reward lateral thinking and accept the upper house's role as a check on the abuse of power.

Voters have again proved capable of deciding who should represent them. They have largely ignored the strident campaign against Labor by the Murdoch media in its tabloid heartlands of Queensland and western Sydney, by supporting strong individual candidates, even under the stained Labor brand. They have also rewarded the constructive Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt in Melbourne.

But overall, the extremist agenda of the party, led by Christine Milne, has been rejected. What's more, intelligence has prevailed in punishing poor candidates. The disappearing Liberal Jaymes Diaz has gone forever in Greenway. Voters in Indi are sick of the rantings of Sophie Mirabella and in Forde they refused to buy the stitched-up Beattie parachute. And in a fitting verdict on the dirt and deals of the last Parliament, former Labor MP Craig Thomson attracted 4 per cent of the vote in Dobell and fellow miscreant Peter Slipper drew 1.44 per cent in Fisher.

A solid majority for Abbott in the lower house sets the stage for him to stabilise government and develop economic reforms to put to the people at the next election. The Herald supports some of these - tax reform, workplace flexibility, efficiency in government and value for taxpayers' money - but rejects many others.

There remains doubt over his mandate on climate change. His ability to manage the disparate minor parties and independents in the Senate will be a good test of his leadership. Can he control those within his party, and its supporters, who will try to use this victory as an excuse to pursue extreme policies?

For Labor, it is difficult to see how anything less than fundamental change will improve its standing. It did not learn from the electoral drubbings in the state polls in NSW and Queensland. There are worrying signs it is still not sufficiently chastened. For instance, the influential union leader Paul Howes wrote on Sunday: ''Labor must remember this, keep calm and carry on.'' No. Voters want Labor to change. They are sick of the infighting and the factional rorts. Rudd's concession speech included little hope of forward thinking, besides his plea for the party to be more democratic. He promised that when he regained the leadership but fell short on delivery.

The fulfilment of those laudable reforms cannot happen, though, with a leader with links to the coups and disunity of the past three years. Bill Shorten is surely the wrong choice on that basis. Anthony Albanese has proved a strong performer, as has Tanya Plibersek, but others deserve consideration too. Australians deserve a Labor leader whom they can trust to unite and reform the party.

In the meantime voters will rightly give Abbott the time and trust he needs to deliver on his promise of stable government for all Australians.